Energy News Digest for January 7, 2008

All the links in today’s news digest lead to current stories. Please note that some media organizations update their web sites regularly, which may result in broken links in the future.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

- Snowfall this season could match record
- California – New storms to hit state with thousands in dark
- Hazards follow power outages
- Colorado – Daily Camera Op/Ed: Electric heat is a dirty business
- Congressional Research Reports – Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
- Major power line sought for Vancouver Island – Existing system seen as unreliable
- Montana – Global warming's political winds leave energy producers wary of coal
- State of Oregon hints of conflict in firm's 2 LNG studies
- Shifting to LNG just trades devil for witch, energy expert says
- California – Pacific Gas and Electric PG&E expects 7 percent drop in natural gas bills
- New energy in nuclear power supply battle
- Bonneville sea lions may come under fire
- Warming could fry salmon
- Tide is Changing at PNW Salmon Center in Belfair
- Montana – Panelist will seek day in killing fish
- Group opposes Columbia Basin irrigation expansion
- East Oregon – Dam goes down in Pilot Rock
- Agencies aim to clean up Puget Sound
- Geoduck: the weird clam worth a fortune
- Orange County recycles water from toilet to tap
- Environmentalists push $1 million program to save urban trees
- Richland company on track with biodiesel
- Animal waste: Future energy, or just hot air?
- Saving Earth saves you money
- Canada’s boreal forests the Fort Knox of carbon
- A melting archive of climate clues
- Study says North Atlantic waters may be warming naturally
- 'Green' product claims are about to receive some federal scrutiny
- Big Ideas: Buying your way out of carbon debt
- Fiber optics bring Othello the world Montana – 3 cities in hunt for state server site
- Noontime Web Video Revitalizes Lunch at Desk
- The Well-Wired Use Libraries More
- Your primary vote will cost you an oath
- Theler Center Aid Comes at a Cost

These and links to more stories in today’s Energy News Digest

WORD OF THE DAY

Boycott • \BOY-kaht\ • verb – To engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions

Ambrose’s global warming protest was less than successful. It seems that his idea to boycott his own carbon dioxide emissions by not breathing was a fatal mistake.

From Merriam-Webster online – Did you know? In the 1870s, Irish farmers faced an agricultural crisis that threatened to result in a repeat of the terrible famine and mass evictions of the 1840s. Anticipating financial ruin, they formed a Land League to campaign against the rent increases and evictions landlords were imposing as a result of the crisis. Retired British army captain Charles Boycott had the misfortune to be acting as an agent for an absentee landlord at the time, and when he tried to evict tenant farmers for refusing to pay their rent, he was ostracized by the League and community. His laborers and servants quit, and his crops began to rot. Boycott's fate was soon well known, and his name became a byword for that particular protest strategy.

WEATHER

Forecast for Mason County, Washington
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=sew&smap=1&textField1=47.21528&textField2=-123.09944

Snowfall this season could match record – If the current weather holds out, snowfall could match the historical record set in 1998-99 when the last strong La Niña rolled in from the Pacific Ocean (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004111268_snowpack07m.html

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

California – New storms to hit state with thousands in dark. More than 200,000 homes, businesses without power as more heavy rain, snow nears California (Contra Costa Times)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_7902212?nclick_check=1

Hazards follow power outages – Spoiled food, improper indoor heating and even candlelight carry big risks, experts warn. (Sacramento Bee, may require free registration)
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/612812.html

From the bad timing department – Virginia: Switch back to TVA for Briston Virginia Utilities leaves some in cold. Cold temperatures and a switch in power providers combined Wednesday morning to leave thousands of city residents shivering in the dark. (Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, via Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5Chlnnqrw%5BShf%7D38%7Dbfen%5Fv

Colorado – Daily Camera Op/Ed: Electric heat is a dirty business
http://dailycamera.com/news/2008/jan/06/electric-heat-is-a-dirty-business/

Congressional Research Reports – Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions
http://opencrs.cdt.org/document/RL34294

Major power line sought for Vancouver Island – Existing system seen as unreliable (Victoria Times-Colonist)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=3a70583d-8351-42ad-9b4f-212b814ad8ca&k=94327

Energy Pulse Commentary – Continental Grid Vision Needed
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1638

Montana – Global warming's political winds leave energy producers wary of coal (The Missoulian)
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/07/news/local/znews04.txt

Oregon –The Coos County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday officially approved a land use application for a marine terminal on the North Spit of Coos Bay. (Bandon Western World)
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2008/01/03/news/doc477d37e05ba40488273624.txt

State of Oregon hints of conflict in firm's 2 LNG studies – Oregon is skeptical of federal assurances that the terminal and pipeline reports were independently done (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1199507118183690.xml&coll=7

Shifting to LNG just trades devil for witch, energy expert says (Arizona Star)
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/business/219178.php

California – Pacific Gas and Electric PG&E expects 7 percent drop in natural gas bills (Sacramento Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/12/31/daily24.html?ana=from_rss

United Kingdom – Energy firms keep £1bn cost savings from customers. Energy companies have been accused of overcharging customers by more than £1 billion by exploiting changes in gas and electricity prices. (London Times)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3137656.ece

New energy in nuclear power supply battle – Firms jostle to be 1st in line for scarce reactor components (Chicago Tribune)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun_nukejan06,0,6203019.story?coll=chi-navrailbusiness-nav

Huffington Post Commentary – Anti-Nuclear Renaissance: A Powerful but Partial and Tentative Victory Over Atomic Energy. As the presidential primary season heats up, an "anti-nuclear renaissance" against loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants will escalate, with the future of American energy policy and global warming hanging in the balance.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-wasserman/antinuclear-renaissance_b_79983.html

Nessie…stay away! Loch Ness hydro tunnel makes breakthrough – A huge boring machine has completed a five mile tunnel for a £140m hydro-electric scheme it started digging 15 months ago. (British Broadcasting Corporation)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7171802.stm

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Bonneville sea lions may come under fire – Sea lions making a buffet line of salmon at Bonneville Dam may arrive this spring to find armed resistance. (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/01/01062008_Bonneville-sea-lions-may-come-under-fire.cfm/

Warming could fry salmon – Salmon survived massive dams and fishing fleets, but now they're feeling the heat of global warming -- and it's likely to hammer them as hard as anything they've faced. (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1199505301132330.xml&coll=7

Tide is Changing at PNW Salmon Center in Belfair – Michelle Hori named administrative manager (Kitsap Sun, may require free registration)
http://kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jan/05/tide-changing-pnw-salmon-center-CNM/

Montana – Panelist will seek day in killing fish. A monkey wrench could be thrown into the state's largest native westslope cutthroat trout restoration project in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. (Billings Gazette)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/06/news/state/28-fish.txt

Group opposes irrigation expansion – An environmental law and policy center based in Spokane is hoping to garner public comment against the expansion of the Columbia Basin Project. (Columbia Basin Herald)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/01/04/news/news02.txt

East Oregon – Dam goes down in Pilot Rock. “…Funding for such projects, while another obstacle, can come from a variety of sources. Money from the Bonneville Power Administration is going toward such projects in the Columbia River Basin…” (East Oregonian)
http://www.eastoregonian.info/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=71375&TM=51058.18

Agencies aim to clean up Puget Sound (Associated Press, via Contra Costa Times, may require free registration)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_7896805

Geoduck: the weird clam worth a fortune – Chinese market for this West Coast seafood is thriving (Vancouver Sun)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=d25ce742-9d4b-4ca9-afd3-6757c63e4fbc

Orange County recycles water from toilet to tap – As a hedge against water shortages and population growth, Orange County has begun operating the world's largest, most modern reclamation plant -- a facility that can turn 70 million gallons of treated sewage into drinking water every day. (Contra Costa Times, may require free registration)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_7896813?nclick_check=1

Environmentalists push $1 million program to save urban trees – Environmentalists eager to save urban trees are promoting the Evergreen Cities campaign, naming it one of their top four priorities for the legislative session that starts next Monday. They're pushing a $1 million program to improve urban forests statewide. *Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/346352_trees07.html

Seattle Timed Guest Columnist: Save Northwest forests for conifers, not condos – Brian Boyle, former State Lands Commissioner
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004110796_brianboyle07.html?syndication=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Gridlock on the Western plains – “…with the West Coast’s increasing electricity demands straining the region’s transmission grid, the race to tap into the West’s best wind sites is getting tighter—and some developers are feeling the squeeze…” (Sustainable Industries)
http://www.sustainableindustries.com/energy/13058457.html

Richland company on track with biodiesel – The Tri-City & Olympia Railroad Co. isn't going to let skyrocketing diesel costs derail its profits. (Tri-City Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/business/v-rss/story/9557419p-9469839c.html

Animal waste: Future energy, or just hot air? (CNN.com)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/07/eco.about.manure/

CONSERVATION

Saving Earth saves you money – Seattle often pays consumers back for buying green. Local governments and utilities around here offer a variety of rebates for citizens and businesses who save energy, save water, even build eco-friendly buildings. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/346177_rebates05.html

Virginia – Energy efficient lightbulb program beats expectations (The Daily Press)
http://www.dailypress.com/business/dp-now-bulbs-0104,0,3676768.story?track=rss

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Boreal forests the Fort Knox of carbon – Canada's timberland a 'life-support' system for the planet, scientists say (Times-Columnist, Victoria)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=9b6e5bb9-326c-4106-98f0-da2309996df2&k=41724

OK, so which is it? (From Friday’s Energy News Digest) Canadian warming forests sop up less greenhouse gases than thought (Vancouver Sun)http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=7db30aea-db09-4bd6-8224-cc5fc447742f&k=24603

Seattle Times Editorial – "Sue and sue and sue" for emissions standards. Washington lined up with California and 14 other states to force the U.S. government out of its unfathomable foot-dragging on improving vehicle-emissions standards.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2004108073_emissionsed06.html

A melting archive of climate clues (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004110015_glacier06.html

Study says North Atlantic waters may be warming naturally (CanWest News Service)
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=d659aba5-2261-42be-9366-fd2003fff9a8&k=85752

'Green' product claims are about to receive some federal scrutiny – How many advertising execs does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? So many, it seems, that Washington has decided to take a look at how Madison Avenue markets eco-friendly products. (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1199498124260280.xml&coll=7

Big Ideas: Buying your way out of carbon debt – Why corporations and individuals are rushing out to go 'neutral' (The National Post, Canada)
http://www.nationalpost.com/newsletter/story.html?id=216074

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Fiber optics bring Othello the world – With the advent of a fiber optics system, Othello is poised for opportunity. (Othello Outlook)
http://othellooutlook.com/cgi-bin/outlook/get_story.cgi?story=Story_2&dir=01032008

Montana – 3 cities in hunt for state server site – Landing the $2 million to $3 million building to house the computerized intellectual property of the state of Montana has become a hot contest. (Billings Gazette)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/04/news/local/22-server.txt

Colorado – City of Glenwood Springs drafts ballot question for expanding fiber-optic network. Voters will decide in April if the city should pursue the infrastructure to provide fiber-optic connections to every home. (Glenwood Springs Post-Independent)
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20080104/VALLEYNEWS/312585246

System that Made Internet Possible Turns 25 (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17872707&ft=1&f=2

A Breakthrough for TV on the Web (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/05/AR2008010500145.html?nav=rss_technology

Noontime Web Video Revitalizes Lunch at Desk – In cubicles across the country, lunchtime has become the new prime time, as workers click aside their spreadsheets to watch videos on YouTube, news highlights on CNN.com or other Web offerings. (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/media/05video.html?_r=1&ex=1357362000&en=6229cf8d4abdac05&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

The Well-Wired Use Libraries More – Library use is far more prevalent among people who have a broadband Internet connection at home or at work, according to a new study. (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/technology/07drill.html?ex=1357362000&en=979fd599f8dd347d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

GENERAL NEWS

Your primary vote will cost you an oath – The state's Democratic and Republican parties will receive a bonus from next month's presidential primary -- the name of every voter and which party's ballot they picked. (Everett Herald – OK, so how does New Hampshire get away without these requirements?)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080106/NEWS01/486134055&news01ad=1

Theler Center Aid Comes at a Cost (Kitsap Sun, may require free registration)
http://kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jan/05/theler-center-aid-comes-cost-cnm/

DIVERSIONS

Sacre Bleu! Ontario francophones under threat of assimilation – Ontario's 500,000 francophones are under constant threat of assimilation in an overwhelmingly English province, says Francophone Affairs Minister Madeleine Meilleur.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=6ca121cb-2332-4b10-a451-fad22576e6c1&k=80049

Stewart, Colbert return today
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080107/NEWS02/553447811/-1/RSS01

Punta Gorda woman bites into a rare, purple pearl
http://www.winknews.com/news/local/13114992.html

Britney Spears Rejects Visit From Dr. Phil (well wouldn’t you?)
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,320506,00.html

Bending over backwards to entertain, it's SNAKEGIRL!
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=506289&in_page_id=1811